Remember the Past, Remember Me
by shoot-the-moon13
Summary: Yumichika enters a school in the States, to try and find the human girl whose body a Shinigami was forced into. He finds the human he's looking for, but does she have the memories of the Shinigami, or is the Shinigami gone for good? Yumi-OC
1. …Familiarity…

**Remember the Past, Remember Me**

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**Author's Note: Sorry if the beginning is a bit boring... It will get more interesting, though! EDIT: This story has been edited and revised! Please review. :3**

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**~Chapter One~**

**...Familiarity…**

It all started with a dream.

_It was completely dark outside, save for a crescent moon that was glowing silver. She was standing in the small forest surrounding her house, her hair flying around her in the wind. Somewhere up ahead, she saw a mysterious figure standing with their back towards her. All she could see was a flash of orange around their neck and on one of their arms, and what seemed to be a sword hanging at their waist. The person turned their head to the side, and looked at her from the corner of their eye, which was dark like the hair that was framing a pale face, which seemed so familiar…_

Ravyn Jagger woke up with her eyes wide, and sat up in her bed, her mind reeling. It wasn't the first time she had odd dreams, and she was used to it. But just because she was used to having weird dreams didn't necessarily mean that she liked having them, since they were usually confusing, as most dreams are. She couldn't stop thinking about that guy, though…. Why did he seem so familiar, as if she saw him before?

Ravyn sighed, and brushed a hand through her messy black and dyed dark-violet hair. She glanced at the clock, which blinked 5:34 at her in bright blue. And of course, to add on top of everything else, the time just _had_ to be one minute away from 5:35. If the time had to consist of the numbers 5, 3, and 4, why couldn't it have been 5:43 or something? Little things like that ticked her off. Not to mention, it was a Monday, signaling school later on, and homework even later. She sighed and laid back down on her bed, closing her eyes.

Fifteen minutes later, Ravyn sat up again, since her plan to get back to sleep failed. She was lucky that she wasn't up totally late last night, otherwise she'd be too tired to do anything. Yawning, she got out of her bed and walked across her room to turn on her lamp, so that the room was cast in a dark red glow, which didn't hurt her eyes. Her room was small and simple: the floor was dark wood, which had tons of rugs on it so her feet didn't freeze in the winter; the walls painted dark purple, which was her favorite color; her bed was in a corner, next to a huge window with an equally huge window-seat that she could sit on. Or lay on, since she was short enough.… On the opposite side of the room where the lamp was, there was a beanbag chair and a fuzzy moon chair; and along the wall with the door, her desk was sitting in a corner, stacked with books, the occasional manga, papers, pencils, and crayons. Basically, her room was simple, and had a crappy view overlooking the forest by her house (the same forest she was standing in in her dream, Ravyn noticed), but she liked it anyway.

She took a shower, and spent ten minutes attempting to straighten her hair before giving up and returning back to her room, where she sat at her desk. She threw all of her school stuff into her backpack, which she put by the door, and looked at the clock, which said 7. Her dad should be waking up soon, and would hopefully make her pancakes for breakfast. She grabbed her iPod, and spent some time listening to it before putting on some makeup and walking downstairs and into the kitchen. Her dad was up, and was luckily making pancakes for her.

"Morning, Ravyn," he said to her as she sat down at the table.

"Morning. It's early," Ravyn replied as she always did, and yawned. Her house was small, but it was big enough for her and her dad. Her mom had died two years ago, so the house seemed to be emptier on more than one occasion, but they both didn't mind, and the house was perfect for them. It was on the outskirts of a town in Florida, and it made a perfect refuge for when the heat was too much, or when it was too cold. Even Florida, the state that never got snow, could be too cold for Ravyn and her dad, who both despised the winter and loved spring.

"Did you sleep well?" her dad asked. He flipped the pancakes he was making once more before putting them on a plate which he handed her, along with a glass of milk, which she insisted on drinking ever since she heard someone mention that it might make her taller.

"Nope. Weird dreams," she said, and he nodded sympathetically, but smirked as she dug into her pancakes like there was no tomorrow. A few minutes later, she had disappeared into her room to get her stuff, and was back at the kitchen, drinking the last of her milk.

"Maybe this time the milk'll help you grow," he replied, and she glared at him.

"See ya later, dad," Ravyn said, and he laughed as she stormed out of the house. She walked to her high school, which was fifteen minutes away, and arrived on time, for once. School passed by quickly, mainly because it was fueled by chocolate and Cherry Coke. During lunch, she told her friends about her dream, which became the topic of the day. A few hours later, on the way back home, she walked with Ember, one of her friends, and they complained about the teachers and their obsession with homework, and wondered about Ravyn's dream and why the figure had seemed so familiar.

The next day, Ravyn walked to school with a feeling that something was going to happen. As she sat down next to her friend Brayden in her homeroom, which was, the feeling intensified as they waited for their teacher to come in.

"What's up?" Brayden asked, noticing her uncommon fidgeting. He had curly brown hair, and unnaturally bright blue eyes, caused by his contacts.

"Something's gonna happen," she told him, and he nodded. He heard that phrase too many times, and most often then not, something happened as she said. It was odd but cool, as Brayden often said. A few minutes later, they both were drawing in their notebooks, and looked up as the bell rang. The teacher, Mr. P (his last name was long, and people just started calling him that, so the name stuck), walked in, followed by two guys, one of which immediately caught Ravyn's attention. He had jaw-length black hair, purple eyes, and what was even odder was the two feathers coming from his eyebrow and lashes. The other boy who was standing next to him had bright orange hair and brown eyes, the only somewhat unusual thing about him being his hair color.

"These are two exchange students from Japan. Yumichika Ayasegawa and Ichigo Kurosaki," Mr. P said, and the two nodded as their names were called. "I expect everyone to treat them as you would any other student. Now, you two can go to Ravyn and Brayden's table."

"Why us?" Brayden muttered, as he waved to the Japanese students, who walked over to their table. Yumichika sat down across from Ravyn, and Ichigo was next to him. Ravyn knew right away that Yumichika was the guy from her dream, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that she _knew_ him, even before the vision. And it didn't help that she was 100% positive that she had never seen him before in her life. What was also weird, was that she could also see him carrying a sword, and wearing the robes that he did in her dream. She shook her head, and focused on what Mr. P was saying. Apparently they were supposed to have a quiz, but with Yumichika and Ichigo's appearance, it would be put off until tomorrow. For the rest of the class, they could do whatever they wanted, to many cheers and high fives of the students.

"So, you guys are from Japan?" Brayden asked, after he and Ravyn introduced themselves.

"What's it like there?" she asked as she pulled out a candy bar from the pocket of her jacket.

"It's pretty cool," Ichigo replied. "The city where we came from, Karakura Town, is basically like this. Except, you know, more Japanese."

"And it has snow," Yumichika said.

"Well if you wanted snow, you should've picked a state other than Florida," Ravyn told him after swallowing some chocolate.

"And Texas," Brayden added. "I don't think it snows there."

"But didn't Ember mention once that when she went there, it was snowing?" she asked, and then added thoughtfully, "Hey, do you think Mr. P will mind if I drank my Cherry Coke?"

"Yeah, he will," he replied. "Remember, the last time you did, he made you throw out the bottle."

"Oh yeah, that day was total hell. No candy, no caffeine... But he regretted it in the end," Ravyn said, and they both smirked at the memory. She had ended up sleeping through the entire class, which was something Mr. P absolutely hated. "So anyway, Yumichika, Ichigo. Why'd you guys decide to come here to go to school?"

"More education," Ichigo replied, shrugging, after sharing a look with Yumichika. "And just to go to a school in the States."

"And one that doesn't require a uniform," said Yumichika, and they all nodded.

"School would suck even more than it does now if we couldn't wear what we wanted to," Ravyn agreed.

"Imagine going to Karakura High. We all have to wear uniforms there, which, again, is partly why we left for a school here in the States," Ichigo told them.

"Though some people, like me, make the uniforms look good," Yumichika said, making Ichigo roll his eyes and Ravyn and Brayden smirk.

"So, what's it like here in Florida?" Ichigo asked them.

"Well, it's sort of cool, sort of not. As far as weather goes, the summers will kill you, and the winters are gonna freeze you, since apparently they've been getting colder," Ravyn said. "But then, that's coming from a chick who only saw snow a few times, and freaked out yelling about how it was too cold…. But anyway, as for the stores, you've got a lot of places to go to, and there's a few arcades, video game places, and stuff. And there's also a few malls around here. And in every mall lies a candy store..." She trailed off, her eyes lighting up as she mentioned candy.

"One thing you gotta know about Ravyn, is that she's obsessed with anything chocolaty," Brayden said, smirking as she stabbed him with her pencil. They missed the glance that Ichigo sent Yumichika.

"Not _anything_ chocolaty, though," she corrected. "I can't stand Twix, or anything that has caramel in it."

"Loser," said someone from the table next to them.

"Jerk," she retorted.

"Midget."

"What the hell did you just say?" Ravyn asked the kid, glaring daggers at him.

"I said you're a midget, because you're so short."

"I'm _not_ short!" she shouted. "I'm just-"

"Just what?" the kid interrupted, smirking.

"Just unusually not tall! Yeah! And just because I'm unusually not tall doesn't mean that I'm short! You wanna know why? Because I'm NOT short!" Ravyn stood, glaring at the kid for a few seconds longer before defiantly taking a bite out of her chocolate bar and sitting back down. Ichigo and Yumichika looked at each other again, and Yumichika gave a very barely perceptible nod.

"Ravyn, I see you're taking your anger out on the candy as well as James's ears. Good, it seems like those anger management classes have worked out well," Mr. P said, making everyone laugh, as well as Ravyn, who denied ever going to one of those classes. He was one of the reasons why science was interesting, since he usually made jokes in the class, making it somewhat more enjoyable.

The rest of homeroom passed quickly, and when the bell rung, everyone rushed as they always did to get out of the classroom. Ichigo was talking to some girl who apparently had the same second period class as him, and they disappeared, along with Brayden. Yumichika was talking to Mr. P, and he and Ravyn were the last ones in the class. Ravyn was throwing out the wrapper to her candy and was walking towards the door when the teacher stopped her.

"Ravyn, you have history next, right?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Could you show Yumichika the way?"

"Sure," she replied, and they walked out of the classroom and down the hall to the stairs at the end, shoving their way through the small crowds of people (Ravyn shoved, he just followed in the empty space she left behind). All the while, Yumichika kept observing her, and she pretended to be oblivious to it all. They went upstairs, and then into the history class. Yumichika thanked her for showing him the way, and she nodded before going to her seat in the back, next to her friend Rozalin, while he went up to the teacher, Mr. Davis.

"Who's he?" Rozalin asked as she sat down.

"Yumichika Ayasegawa," Ravyn answered. "One of the two Japanese transfers. He's also the guy I saw before."

"Really? Does he still seem familiar to you?"

"Yeah, even more so than before," she said. "I can't seem to shake the feeling that I know him from somewhere, but I know I don't."

"That's odd," Rozalin commented thoughtfully and twisted her dark hair around her finger as the bell rang. Mr. Davis introduced Yumichika, and told him to sit in the empty seat in the middle row, which he was obviously not happy about. Ravyn thought it was mainly because of the football jerk that he had to sit next to, but she wasn't entirely sure.

While the teacher droned on about some war and gave everyone notes to fill out, Ravyn's mind was on Yumichika. There was no doubt about it- he was definitely the guy she saw in her dream. Staring at him from behind had proved that. And she was curious about him, too. The way he holds himself was how all the 'popular' idiots held themselves, but Yumichika was, yes, a bit arrogant, but not as much as the idiots. It was more like he thought himself prettier than everyone else, and thus deemed them all beneath him, and it showed when they were walking through the hall. Though, he _did_ have a reason to be vain, Ravyn thought and she felt her face heat up slightly.

She quickly thought of cherry flavored Pop Tarts (she figured out that thinking of something completely random would get rid of the blush), and felt her face go back to normal, to her relief. She sighed thoughtfully, and continued thinking about the Japanese transfers.

Why did Yumichika and Ichigo decide to come to Florida of all places to go to school? Was it really because they thought that they could get a better education here than in Japan, or were they hiding something? And if they were going to go to another school in another country, why didn't they transfer last month, when school began? Why wait? She wondered when she'd became so suspicious when Rozalin kicked her under the table, bringing her back to reality as notes were shoved in front of her face. Ravyn rolled her eyes at her, and started copying down the notes. When the class ended, she noticed that Yumichika was already out the door.

Ravyn went to her Language Arts class, which was luckily still upstairs, and sat down in her seat in the middle row. A few seconds later, Ichigo walked in, and was told to sit next to her. Everyone stared at him as he walked over to her and sat down. Ravyn, as usual, couldn't care less if he sat there or not, but at least now she had someone to talk to, since she was stuck in a class full of idiots she didn't like.

"Yo," Ichigo greeted her. All of the girls in the room continued staring at them, and were whispering to each other.

"Hey," she replied. "What's up?"

"The boringness of this school," he said, and she smirked.

"Well, you just _had _to pick Florida, didn't you?" Ravyn asked, but Ichigo couldn't say anything since their teacher walked up to the front of the classroom. She introduced Ichigo, who was really starting to get annoyed at all of the girls staring at him with hearts in their eyes, and then started the lesson. Unfortunately, this class actually required attention, so Ravyn couldn't daydream.

Somehow, though, the class went by, and before she knew it, she was on her way to lunch. On the way there, she found Ember, and filled her in on the Japanese guys (she only had one class with Ichigo), and how she still felt as if she knew Yumichika.

"You'll figure it out sooner or later," Ember told her as she tucked some blonde hair behind her ear. "But since I haven't seen him yet, let's sit near wherever they're sitting."

"Sounds good to me," Ravyn said. They went into the cafeteria and noticed Yumichika and Ichigo sitting outside, so they found Rozalin and Brayden and dragged them outside, too. They sat down at one of the tables, and started talking about the transfers.

"All of the girls are in love with Ichigo. It's annoying, since he's all they talk about," Rozalin said. "He's not even all that hot."

"To you, maybe," Ember muttered, blushing slightly, and they snickered.

"Hey, go after him," Ravyn told her. "No one's stopping you… well, aside from all the other girls in the school, but no one cares about them. And it's not like they ever stopped you before."

"Do you think he'll like me, though?" she asked. They all stared at her, with her long blonde hair that was slightly wavy, her sea-green eyes, and perfectly tan skin.

"Yep," Ravyn, Brayden, and Rozalin all said in unison, and then they all laughed. They spent a few minutes talking as they ate, while also glancing at the Japanese guys, who were sitting at the table by the soda machine. Some annoying kid called Nick was walking up to Ichigo and said something to him, but they couldn't hear what. Ichigo glared at him and replied, and it soon evolved into an argument. It was pretty easy to hear what they were saying now, and it was about Ichigo's hair, of all things. Apparently Nick couldn't get it into his head that his hair was _not _dyed, which Ichigo found annoying.

"If you want dyed hair, look at her," Ichigo said, exasperated, and pointed at Ravyn, who narrowed her eyes. "Purple's not natural, but orange, believe it or not, _is_."

"But not your kind of orange," Nick insisted. "And I don't care about Ravyn's hair, since it's-"

"It's what, exactly?" Ravyn interrupted, walking over to them. "Not noticeable?"

"The only thing noticeable about you is your shortness," said Nick, earning himself a glare.

"I'm not freakin' short! And you shouldn't be talking, since you're barely any taller than me!" she shouted, before spinning around and walking away. She muttered, just loud enough for Nick to hear, "Honestly, people these days. No respect for those who are height challenged."

"Whatever," Ichigo said as she sat back down at her table. "My hair's naturally like this, so get over it," he added to Nick, and then went back to eating his lunch, scowling as usual. Nick just glared at them all, and went back to his table. Meanwhile, Ravyn was digging in her backpack, trying to find her Cherry Coke.

"Hey, Ember, can I borrow a dollar? I drank all of my Coke," she explained, rolling her eyes. "I'll pay you back tomorrow."

"Sure," Ember replied, digging around in her purse for a dollar, which she gave to her.

"Thanks," Ravyn said, and walked over to the soda machine. She didn't notice that Rozalin had made Brayden look through her backpack, and show them a half-full Cherry Coke before putting it back away. She looked at the machine, and shoved in her dollar, but it kept rejecting her money.

"Just take the damn money, stupid soda machine. You know you want to," she muttered, not caring if she looked stupid or not talking to an inanimate object, and tried putting in the dollar the opposite way. A few tries later, she sighed, glared at the machine, and turned around to walk away, but was stopped as she heard a familiar voice call out her name.

"Ravyn, why don't you try pressing in your drink, and see if it works?" Yumichika asked as she turned back around.

"But it takes the money first," she said.

"Just try," he insisted.

"If you say so…." Ravyn trailed off, and hit the Cherry Coke button on the side of the machine. Sure enough, she heard the thud the bottle made when hitting the bottom of it, and she grabbed it.

"How'd you know it'd work?" she asked as she turned around, but Yumichika and Ichigo were already walking back inside. She stared at their backs before sighing, and looking down at her drink. She shrugged and opened it, and returned back to her friends.

"He obviously bought you the Coke," Rozalin said after she finished telling them what happened, along with returning the dollar to Ember.

"But didn't want it to be obvious," Brayden added before she could say anything.

"Well, at least I got a free Coke," Ravyn muttered, shrugging. They laughed, and then went back inside the school to go to their next class, which they all had together: Geometry. It was by far the most boring class, since it _was_ math, and it dragged on and on as they all took notes about sine, cosine, and tangents. They never would've guessed that triangles had to be so complicated, and that they would be giving them hell later, since their teacher decided to pile a whole bunch of triangle-related homework on them.

At last, the class ended, and they all rushed out of the room, splitting up as Ember and Brayden went to Spanish class and Ravyn and Rozalin went to Art. Art was a class they both loved, since they were pretty good at drawing. All they had to do for today was start sketching out a design for a poster that they would be painting later on in the week, and the class flew by. Before they knew it, it was time to leave. Rozalin was staying after school so she could finish up part of her design, so Ravyn said bye to her and left the school by herself.

Instead of walking directly home, she went into the town, and headed towards the ice cream shop that she almost always went to. There was only a few people sitting down and eating ice cream when she walked in, which wasn't surprising considering no one really ever went to get ice cream anymore. Ravyn walked up to the counter, and the guy who was one of the few workers there greeted her.

"The usual?" Alex asked, and she nodded. He was only a few years older than her, and was tan with dark brown hair, and was an all-around nice guy. Almost every time Ravyn came there, he was working, and after the first two weeks of her buying the same ice cream, he knew what she wanted. Since she came there a lot, he also gave her discounts on the ice cream, so she only had to pay two dollars instead of the normal four. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

"Thanks," she said, giving him the money and taking the chocolate and cherry flavored ice cream cone from him.

"No problem. Drop by soon, Ravyn," he replied.

"Do you really need to tell me that?"

"Nope."

She laughed and walked out after waving to him, and she went down one of the streets that lead to the road leading up to her house. Her eyes lit up as she saw a familiar someone.

"Hey, Yumichika!" she called, and he turned around, looking at her in surprise as she caught up to him. "I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind."

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Have you ever left Japan, before now?" Ravyn asked, watching him as she finished her ice cream cone.

"No, why?" Yumichika answered slowly.

"No reason," she replied, a little too quickly. "Anyway, during lunch, you bought me the Cherry Coke, didn't you?"

"What if I did?" he said, and she rolled her eyes.

"Don't answer a question with another one," she told him. "Though you all but said yes… Next question!"

"Is this twenty questions, or something?" Yumichika asked her, smirking at something he found funny.

"You're asking just as many questions as I am," she retorted. "Anyway, before I forget what I was going to say… um… crap, I forgot what I was going to say." She looked down in mock depression.

"Don't say 'um.' It's unattractive," he said, and Ravyn looked up at him in surprise. "What?"

"That… the whole 'um is unattractive' thing…" she trailed off, and start biting her nail as she thought. She could've sworn she heard someone say that to her before, but she couldn't remember anything more than that. She looked back at Yumichika, who was staring at her thoughtfully. "It's nothing."

"If you're sure…" he replied uncertainly.

"So, where do you live?" Ravyn asked, pretending as if nothing happened.

"Near the end of this road."

"Really? I live… right… there!" she replied, pointing at the house that was coming up on their right. "You know, since no one really lives in this area, we're like, neighbors now."

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed, and they stopped as they reached the front of her house.

"Well, see ya tomorrow, Yumichika," Ravyn said cheerfully as she walked up the driveway.

"Bye," he called, glancing back at her as he continued down the road. She waved once, and then walked inside the house, heading up to her room. She collapsed onto her bed, her mind once again racing.

_Don't say 'um.' It's unattractive. _

Where did she hear that before? And why did she get the feeling that it was Yumichika who said that to her before, and not just when they were walking home? Also, was he lying when he said that he never left Japan until now, or was he telling the truth? If he wasn't lying, then Ravyn knew that she had never seen him until today, but that just made everything all the more confusing. But if he _was_ lying… why? It made no sense at all, and she was determined to figure out what was up with him. And that made her wonder if Ichigo knew what was going on…

She sighed. Starting tomorrow, she was going to try and get some answers out of either Yumichika or Ichigo, and hopefully by the end of the week she'd be able to know at least _something_ about them.


	2. …Chaos…

**~Chapter Two~**

**...Chaos…**

Ravyn woke up, and freaked out. She was already late to school, and it was raining outside. She went over to the window, and corrected herself. It was pouring, not raining, and it didn't look like it was going to let up any time soon. Brilliant. It didn't help that her dad was asleep, so she couldn't beg him to let her skip school that day.

Fifteen minutes later, she was walking out of the door, her jacket completely zipped up and the hood pulled over her head, and a 3 Musketeers in her hand. She slung her backpack over her shoulder, and ran outside and into the rain. Though she wasn't the athletic type, she could still run pretty fast when she wanted to, and that was exactly what she was doing. She had her head lowered so the wind and rain wouldn't hit her, but that failed as the wind made her hood slip off, and making her hair get soaked and fly all over the place.

"Damn wind," Ravyn muttered darkly, holding her hair back so she could see. Luckily, the school was coming up, and she was never more glad for it, either. She ran under the cover of the roof, and paused to catch her breath. When she was sure she wasn't going to get rained on, she rung out her hair and peeled off her soaked jacket, thankful that her shirt didn't get wet. Her jeans were soaked, too, but somehow it wasn't that bad. She opened up her 3 Musketeers, which was serving as her breakfast, and walked into the building, groaning when she saw the empty hallways. She ran to her homeroom, walking in just as the announcements ended, and sighed with relief as she noticed that Mr. P wasn't there. She glared at everyone who was staring at her as she walked over to her table, and threw her stuff on the floor. She took another bite out of her candy bar as she sat down.

"What happened?" Ichigo asked.

"What does it look like? Rain and wind happened," Ravyn said darkly.

"Why didn't you ask your dad to drive you?" Brayden asked. She stared at him.

"Now you tell me," she muttered. "I wish I thought of that... I wouldn't be here soaked to the core with screwed up hair if I did..."

"At least you can pull of the rain-soaked look. Not many can," Yumichika offered, and they all laughed as she angrily ate the rest of her 'breakfast,' and then went to throw out the wrapper. By the time she sat back down, Mr. P had walked in the room, and was looking at Ravyn, who was playing hangman with Brayden.

"Ravyn, were you late?" he asked, and she groaned before nodding. So much for no one noticing.

Mr. P nodded, and then had someone pass out the quiz. Everyone finished in twenty minutes, since it was easy, and then they were assigned a project that they had to complete with the people at their table. They had to create a CO2 car made of wood, and there would be a contest at the end of the month where they raced the cars. Apparently the winner was going to get a prize, though what the prize was, they didn't know. The rest of the class was spent deciding on who would do what. In the end, Brayden would be making the car with Ichigo, and the designs and painting of it would be done by Yumichika and Ravyn. That way they could make sure that the car wouldn't fail when they raced it, and that it would pretty enough for Yumichika.

The other classes went by uneventfully, aside from a growing amount of homework, and at lunch, Yumichika invited Ravyn to sit with him and Ichigo. Taking this as a perfect opportunity to find out some information, Ravyn agreed, and promised her friends to tell them everything during Geometry. She went over to their table, and sat down across from them.

"So..." she said after an awkward silence spent staring at each other.

"Does it always rain like this?" Ichigo asked, staring out the window. It was still dark outside, and the rain was still falling hard. It didn't seem like it was going to be letting up any time soon.

"Yeah," Ravyn replied. "You know, the rainy season and everything. It sucks."

"You don't say," he muttered.

"You should've known about the crappy weather before coming here," she told them reasonably. "Speaking of which, how long are you guys gonna stay here for?" They glanced at each other, and Ravyn sighed, taking a drink of her ever-present Cherry Coke.

"Probably for the rest of high school," Yumichika said at last.

"Then you better get used to the Florida weather," she replied, and they nodded. "Hey, I just noticed, you two speak English pretty well."

"I've always wanted to go to America, since I've heard some states are beautiful, so I started taking English classes as soon as I could in case I ever did go," Yumichika told her. "After a few years of taking it, I would think I'm pretty good at speaking it."

"For me, it was a class that everyone thought I'd fail, so I was determined to prove them wrong," Ichigo said, shrugging.

"Well at least you guys had reasons for learning English. Next year, I'm taking Spanish, but only because I have to," Ravyn said. "I wish I could take Japanese, though. I mean, I know some words and the honorifics and stuff from watching anime, but I'd like to know more."

"Why?" Yumichika asked her.

"Because it's cool. And also so that I know what people are saying without having to read the subtitles in whatever anime I happen to be watching," she replied, and then paused. "Oh yeah, and so when you guys return to Japan, I could, like, visit you guys, and understand what everyone's saying, and I could reply to them!"

"How're you going to learn?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm not," she said simply, and then explained as they looked at her oddly. "I'm too lazy, plus all the online things that could teach me Japanese require money. As much as I wanna learn, I'm not going to waste my money on it. I'll just figure some stuff out by continuing to watch anime, but…. It's not like I'll actually be able to go to Japan anyway."

"How do you know that?" he replied.

"Well, I don't have enough money, for starters, and I don't have a passport thing…." Ravyn trailed off as the bell rung, signaling the end of lunch.

"They really do need to make lunch longer," Yumichika complained, and they agreed as they walked out of the cafeteria. Ichigo disappeared somewhere, leaving him and Ravyn in the middle of the hallway, and he walked her to the Geometry classroom. She followed, walking slightly behind him, and got a sudden feeling of déjà vu. She had a feeling that she'd be getting that feeling a lot, so she just shook it off and thought nothing of it.

"After school, go to that ice cream place, okay?" he said to her as they reached the classroom. "It'll probably stop raining by then."

"Sure," Ravyn replied, nodding, and walked inside the room. She took her seat next to Ember, and after the lesson ended early, she told them what happened at lunch… which they all agreed on was nothing. She didn't tell them about her meeting later with Yumichika, since she didn't think it was important, but if she got any real information, she'd tell them. They spent the last ten minutes of Geometry copying the answers for their homework from the back of the book (why did they even put the answers back there, anyway, if it was just going to be used for cheating?) and then talking about some anime-based video game Rozalin was obsessed with.

The class ended, and they all left, heading to their last class. Art once again flew by, and Ravyn noticed that it had finally stopped raining sometime during the class. She walked out of the room, and left the school. Once outside, she started walking towards the ice cream shop, wondering why Yumichika had asked her to meet her there. Well, not necessarily _there_, but why would he want to meet her at all? She walked in, looking at Yumichika in surprise since he was already there, and ordered a chocolate cone. Alex gave her the ice cream, and disappeared somewhere behind the store. She walked over to Yumichika, put her backpack on the chair, and sat down across from him at the table.

"What's up?" she asked him.

"I was wondering why you asked me yesterday if I ever left Japan before," Yumichika replied.

"That's it?" Ravyn said, and he nodded. She sighed, and then figured that she might as well tell him the truth, since she felt as if she could trust him. "Well, you're probably going to find this crazy, but you seem sort of familiar to me. As if I met you before, but I just don't remember it, or something."

He stared at her with the same thoughtful look as yesterday as she ate her ice cream slowly. "Do you mind if I ask you some questions this time?"

"Go ahead," she replied, wondering where he was going with this.

"The first time you saw me was yesterday at school, right?"

"Well…."

"What?" Yumichika asked.

"Again, you're going to find this weird, but I had this dream the day -or would it be night?- before I saw you at school. You were in it, and you were wearing some weird Japanese thing, with something orange. It was like a scarf… or something. I don't know," Ravyn said, shrugging. "But anyway, you had a sword, too…. It was pretty cool."

"Hmm," he said, thinking, then changed the topic. "Does the name Ikkaku Madarame sound familiar to you?"

She stared at her ice cream in thought. It seemed as if she _should _know the name, but she didn't. "No, why? Who's that?"

He paused. "No one important. One more name, though. What about Kenpachi Zaraki?"

Again, Ravyn felt as if she should recognize the name, but for some reason, didn't. "No, sorry."

"Just tell me if you suddenly _do_ find those names familiar," Yumichika said, and she nodded.

"Why should they sound familiar to me, though?" she asked, finishing up the last of her cone. There was a long pause, and she was starting to wonder if he was going to answer or not.

"It's… complicated," he said at last. "Don't worry, though, Ravyn. You'll find out sooner or later."

"Hopefully sooner," she muttered, and he smiled at her. It wasn't the normal half-smile he usually had at school; it was a full smile, one that would make all the girls forget about Ichigo and start worshipping Yumichika instead. Of course, Ravyn felt awesome that he would smile at her, and was trying not to blush and turn into gross mush on the floor.

"Do you want to come over tomorrow night for dinner?" Yumichika asked her, and she looked at him in surprise.

"Yeah, sure. I'll tell you either later, or tomorrow during school if I can go or not," she replied.

"You have a cell phone?" She nodded, and he got out a piece of paper and wrote down his number on it, sliding it to her. She took it and put it in her pocket, and then gave him her number. "Call me when you find out."

"No problem," Ravyn said, and followed him out of the shop. They walked to her house in a comfortable silence, Yumichika slightly ahead. Instead of feeling déjà vu again, like she expected, it felt natural to walk slightly behind him. She wondered, not for the first time, why. At last, they reached her house, and she turned to him.

"See ya."

"Bye, Ravyn," Yumichika said, flashing her another one of his smiles, which she returned before turning around to hide her blush. She walked up to the front door, and turned back to see his retreating back, and then walked inside. She dropped her stuff up in her room, and then went back downstairs, collapsing onto a chair in the living room while she waited for her dad to return from work. She didn't have to wait long, though, since ten minutes later he walked in. Ravyn got up and met him in the kitchen.

"Hey, dad," she said. "Can I go over to a friend's house for dinner tomorrow?"

"Who's house?" he asked.

She sighed; she had hoped he wouldn't ask. "Um, there's this new transfer kid, and we're sort of friends?"

"Is it that orange-haired gangster?"

"Ichigo? No," Ravyn said, smirking. "And he's not a gangster, dad."

"The feathered pretty-boy?" he guessed, ignoring her last statement.

"Yumichika. And yeah, him," she replied. "He lives down the road, so…."

"Well, he doesn't seem too much like a gangster, and his hair's a natural color," he mused, purposely taking his time to decide just to annoy her. "I guess you can go… but on one condition."

"What?" she asked.

"You're coming back by nine, nine-thirty at the latest," he said, ignoring her protests. "And then you're telling me what happens there."

"What do you mean? We're just going to be talking, eating, and talking some more!"

"You never know," her dad replied mysteriously, leaving the room.

Ravyn rolled her eyes, and went up to her room. A few hours later, she finally finished her homework, and since she had nothing better to do, she decided to call up Yumichika.

"Did you find out if you can come?" he asked.

"Yep," she replied cheerfully.

"Well?" Yumichika said after a few seconds. "Can you?"

"I didn't say 'yep' for nothing, you know," she retorted, and they laughed. "So, I guess I could just hang out at your place after school or something?"

"Yes, that would work," he replied. "Ichigo is learning how to read a cookbook right now, so-"

"Is it going to be edible?" Ravyn asked, interrupting him. Ichigo didn't seem like the type of person who could cook, much less follow instructions from a cookbook.

"We can always order takeout if it's not," Yumichika replied.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Well, speaking of food, I have to go now. So, see you tomorrow, Yumichika!"

"Bye."

* * *

The next day, school dragged on for Ravyn.

In homeroom, they got the block of wood they'd need to make the CO2 car out of, and Brayden took that home to start working on it. By the time lunch came around, she was wondering if the day could last any longer. She was excited about hanging out at Yumichika and Ichigo's place, and was looking forward to it. She thought about what would happen, and if she was going to, by any chance, find out anything. No, tonight she wasn't going to worry about anything like that. She was just going to find out what Yumichika and Ichigo were like outside of school, and if she got any information from them, then she'd be happy. If not, she'd still be content.

At long last, she was in her Art class, which luckily passed by as quickly as it always did. When the bell finally rung, Ravyn rushed out of class, and went outside, where she met up with Ichigo and Yumichika. Halfway to the house, Ichigo remembered that he still needed to buy stuff, and the other two watched as he ran back the way they came so he could go to the grocery store.

"Hey, I'm gonna go drop off my stuff at my place, 'kay?" Ravyn asked as they neared her house. "I'll be right back."

"I'm not going anywhere," Yumichika replied, and she rolled her eyes before disappearing into her house.

Ravyn headed up to her room, where she dropped her backpack by her desk, then stared in the mirror at her hair. She decided to do something different with it for once, and she pulled it back into a ponytail with her bangs covering her face like they usually did, and also covering the sides of her face, too. Surprisingly, her hair looked good that way, and she ran back downstairs and outside to Yumichika. He glanced at her hair, and shock and some other emotion that Ravyn couldn't place flickered in his eyes for an instant before disappearing. Before she could wonder about it, they started walking again.

"Ichigo ran by a few seconds after you went inside," Yumichika said after a few seconds of awkward silence. "He didn't buy much."

"Maybe he didn't need a lot… or he forgot something, or was too lazy to buy more," Ravyn suggested.

"Well, we'll find out soon enough," he replied as the house was coming into their view. A few seconds later, they were walking inside, and were greeted by Ichigo, who stuck his head out of the door leading to the kitchen.

"You guys came back fast," he commented and then disappeared.

"Is that a bad thing?" Ravyn asked.

"Yes!" Ichigo shouted from the kitchen. "Now I'm under even _more _pressure to learn how to cook!"

"Learn?" she asked under breath, looking at Yumichika in alarm.

"It'll be fine," he reassured her, though he looked as if he was also convincing himself as well. "Hopefully…."

"I heard that," Ichigo said, and was followed by a crash and some swearing.

"Let's go somewhere else, before he somehow manages to blow something up," Yumichika said quickly, and lead her through the living room and into a hallway. He opened a door hidden in a corner, and they walked in. The room had a light and airy feel to it, mainly because it was painted light blue, and the window let in lots of light. There wasn't much furniture- just a bed in a corner with a small table next to it, a desk by the window, and a sofa along one of the walls.

"This is your room?" she asked, and he nodded.

"It's not as beautiful as it could be, but I didn't have any time to do anything to it," he replied, shrugging, and she wondered how a room, of all things, could be considered beautiful.

"Well, it's still cool, compared to my cluttered and dark room," Ravyn said, sitting down on the edge of his bed while he went to the sofa. Not even ten seconds later, they heard the loudest crash yet coming from the kitchen, followed by doors slamming, and she looked at him in alarm. "Yumichika, don't you think we should-"

"Fire!" Ichigo yelled as he kicked open the door. "There's a fire in the kitchen!"

"Didn't you put it out?" Yumichika asked, and he shook his head. "Why not?"

"We don't have a fire extinguisher thing, remember?" Ichigo replied as he freaked out, and Yumichika nodded.

"How big is the fire?" Ravyn asked.

"Well, when I ran out of there, it was small…." he said, and she rolled her eyes before leaving the room. Ichigo and Yumichika followed her into the kitchen, where they got hit with the heat from the fire, which was consuming part of the table… which happened to be near the door they were all standing by.

"Idiot! Haven't you ever heard of a fire getting bigger?" she asked, freaking out, and then took a few deep breaths before turning to face them. "I have a fire extinguisher at home; you two stay here and don't go near the fire."

"Ravyn, what are you-" Yumichika started, but stopped as she pushed him and Ichigo away from the kitchen, and proceeded to run outside. Ravyn ran into her house, and headed towards the living room closet. She grabbed the extinguisher, ran back outside, and headed towards their house. Smoke could be seen coming from a window, and she quickened her pace. Luckily, the door was still open, and she ran inside, while pulling the pin on it, and went to the kitchen. She squeezed the trigger, the white foam inside of the extinguisher started shooting out and covering the fire. After a minute, the fire had disappeared, and Ravyn turned around to face Ichigo and Yumichika, who were staring at her.

"You put out the fire," Ichigo said, and she calmly aimed the nozzle at him, and pressed the trigger again, making the stuff hit him in the face. "What the hell was that for, Ravyn?"

"You're an _idiot! _What were you even doing that could cause a fire, anyway?"

"Cooking?" he replied uncertainly, and was hit with the foam again.

"Again, Ichigo, you're an idiot," Ravyn said, shaking her head.

"An idiot who's going to buy me a new door," Yumichika added.

"Why do I owe you a door?" Ichigo asked, staring at him in confusion.

"Because you broke it when you kicked it down," he replied. "Even if you didn't break it, I still would need a new door, since it's ugly, and no amount of paint can fix that." Ravyn nodded, and then aimed the nozzle at Ichigo again.

"Don't shoot me with that thing again!" Ichigo said quickly, raising his hands up in a sign of surrender. She stared at him thoughtfully, and he gulped.

"On one condition," she said at last. "Whenever I'm here, you don't cook at all."

"Even microwaving stuff?" he asked.

"Even microwaving stuff," she repeated, nodding. "Deal?"

"Why don't you just ban him from entering the kitchen at all?" Yumichika suggested, and she grinned evilly while Ichigo looked from her to Yumichika and back again.

"Y-you wouldn't dare," Ichigo said nervously.

"Oh, I would," Ravyn replied, raising the nozzle of the fire extinguisher threateningly. "Is it a deal or not?"

"It's a deal," he agreed a few seconds later, and then disappeared.

The rest of the night passed by uneventfully. They had ordered a pizza, which they ate in the living room, since the table in the kitchen was demolished. They talked about random stuff for the rest of the night while snacking on ice cream, and Ichigo and Yumichika told her a little bit about Japan. Before they knew it, it was time for Ravyn to leave, and she said bye to them before taking the fire extinguisher and walking back to her house.


	3. …Explanations…

**~Chapter 3~**

…**Explanations…**

Friday night, Ravyn, for some reason, couldn't get to sleep. After about an hour and a half of trying, she gave up, and decided to go over to her window, and look out. She was just staring blankly at some point in the distance, when all of a sudden, a flash of light being reflected off something caught her eye. She opened up her window, and leaned out to get a better look at the edge of the forest, where she saw the light of the moon being reflected off something again. Ever curious, she closed her window, and decided to go out and find out what it was, since she could always sleep in and not have to worry about school the next day. She put on shoes, slipped a jacket over the shirt that she was wearing, and quietly snuck out of her house.

Sometime later, she was walking in the forest. The sounds of metal clashing against metal reached her, and she quickened her pace, wondering what was making the noise. Her imagination ran wild as she walked, and she could almost see Yumichika with his sword, fending off an enemy from some video game she played. Or maybe it was just two random people, fighting in the middle of the night because they had nothing better to do with their lives…. Hell, it could be two cosplayers pretending to be two people from some anime who like to fight each other. Ravyn preferred her first idea. As she seemed to get nearer to wherever the fighting noises were, she suddenly stopped as an image flashed through her mind, but too quickly for her to make out anything. She paused for a few seconds with her eyes closed, hoping to see the image again, but nothing happened. Slightly disappointed, she continued on.

A few feet in front of her was a huge clearing in the forest, and Ravyn hid behind a tree as she looked out. Two people were, actually, fighting with swords. One was holding a huge butcher-knife resembling sword, and her eyes followed the blade to its owner's arm, and then to the guy's face, only to see… Ichigo? He looked like Ichigo- he had the same hair color, eyes, and everything, except he was wearing some black outfit thing, sort of like what Yumichika was wearing in her dream earlier on in the week. That thought made Ravyn turn to the other person, standing on the opposite end of the clearing. He was, without a doubt, Yumichika. He was wearing the orange scarf-thing that was connected to a sleeve on his right arm of the same color, and was also wearing the black robes. His sword, at least, looked like a normal katana.

As she watched, the two jumped towards the middle of the clearing, and their swords clashed as they met. Ravyn watched them fight in awe- it was the coolest thing she'd ever seen. But she couldn't help but wonder where they got the swords, or how they managed to jump such a large distance in one go, or why they were even fighting in the first place. Nonetheless, it was amazing, and she continued to watch them fight and trade the occasional insult, even if it did seem incredibly movie-like. She moved around the tree to get a better view, and in the process she accidentally stepped on a twig, which snapped in half. She froze, looking at Yumichika and Ichigo, who had also frozen when they heard the noise and were now looking around. As Yumichika's eyes neared her hiding spot, Ravyn's senses returned to her, and she quickly spun around and started running. She didn't care if she made noise this time, but she did care if she was spotted. Why, she didn't know. She just had the feeling that if it was possible, she shouldn't be noticed by either Ichigo or Yumichika. But at the same time, she didn't think that it wouldn't matter, since they both were probably way faster at running than she was. It was only a matter of time before one of them caught up to quickened her pace as adrenaline pumped through her veins.

Not even a few seconds later, she could've sworn she heard footsteps behind her. Although she wanted to look over her shoulder, she didn't, and instead continued running. After what seemed like forever but was probably only minutes, she could start to see the edge of the forest coming up ahead. Finally. She was panting at the effort of running so fast for such a long amount of time, and wasn't too sure of how much longer she could keep up her pace. The muscles in her legs were starting to burn, but she didn't stop to rest.

Meanwhile, the footsteps behind her hadn't slowed at all, and from what she could tell, whoever was chasing her wasn't even out of breath. She neared the edge and was just about to leave the forest, when she was grabbed from behind and pinned against a tree... by none other than Yumichika.

_"What _exactly are you _doing _here?" he asked her, getting straight to the point. Ravyn looked up into flashing violet eyes, and was surprised at his anger. She didn't think she did anything... Or did she?

"I couldn't sleep?" she offered weakly, biting her bottom lip nervously.

"And that's a reason to go walking in a forest in the middle of the night? Don't you know it can be dangerous?" She nodded, and he continued. "Tell me, what was the real reason why you came out here, besides the fact you couldn't sleep?"

"I saw light being reflected off something in the middle of the forest, and wanted to check it out," she admitted. "I was curious, that's all."

"If there had been an explosion, would you go there because you were curious?" Yumichika asked her.

"Probably," Ravyn answered after a few seconds of thinking. "I mean, what if someone was there, and they were hurt or dead or something? If no one went there to find out what happened, the anyone who was hurt would definitely end up dead."

He sighed. "And if there was some sort of unexplainable flash of light or something similar?"

"Well, yeah. Wouldn't _you_ want to know why there was light flashing in an otherwise dark night? Well, if it was nighttime, I mean. If it was during the day, I probably wouldn't notice it…. But where are you going with this, Yumichika?"

"Curiosity can be such an ugly emotion," he muttered, and then told her, "You shouldn't always be so curious about everything. Sometimes leaving things be and ignoring it is the best thing to do. Being too curious can be your downfall if your unlucky," he added softly as she looked down guiltily.

"Sorry," Ravyn said, wondering what he meant by that.

"Just promise me something," Yumichika said, and she looked up at him. "Don't wander off by yourself if you see or hear something odd. It's not always going to be me and Ichigo sparring."

"I won't, I promise," she replied. He stared at her for a few seconds before nodding.

"Go back to your house now and get some sleep. Lack of sleep causes ugly bags to form under your eyes, and we can't have that happening. Sometime tomorrow, come over to my place, it doesn't matter what time," he continued. "I'll explain everything then, and answer whatever questions you have."

"Okay," she agreed. Yumichika stepped back, allowing her to leave. She glanced back before walking out of the forest, her mind racing. But a few questions kept repeating themselves in her mind: Why was Yumichika angry with her? Was it because she spot him and Ichigo fighting, or because of something else? And why did he say that curiosity could be her downfall?

* * *

- **Y U M I C H I K A **POV-

That night, after they had returned to their gigais, Yumichika lay in bed, wide awake. His mind wandered back to the first day he met Ravyn Jagger. Right away he could tell that Ruri was somewhere in the girl, judging by her personality. And unless the girl just coincidentally acted the same as Ruri, he was positive that he could somehow save his friend. How, Yumichika wasn't quite sure. But he'd be damned if he didn't at least try to do something.

Yumichika sighed, hating this. For nearly two years, he had successfully managed not to fret as much about Ruri Aruteru, his best friend who's always been by his side ever since that one day in Rukongai. It took a lot of control and distractions that prevented him from worrying about her all the time, and even more so when he found out her condition was getting worse. Of course, he had wanted to find out if he could save her or not, and that was why he was in the States, with Ichigo as his guide to the Living World. But seeing the human that Ruri was in had made him start worrying again. What if Ruri's soul had merged with Ravyn's, and she was no longer the same person? What if Yumichika couldn't get back one of his two closest friends?

He glared at the ceiling. Why did that damn Kurotsuchi have to start experimenting with those hollows? And the hideous captain surely had to have better security than he did with the mentioned hollow. He should've been prepared should his… experiments ever escaped. Now that he thought about it, it was mainly Kurotsuchi's fault that Yumichika was in the Living World, worrying, and most likely causing ugly wrinkles to appear on his perfect face because of his creased eyebrows and frown. His dislike towards the Squad 12 captain increased.

* * *

The next day came, and Ichigo left after breakfast go to Brayden's house to work on their CO2 car. Yumichika, having found out that his cell phone _could_ actually text people in Seireitei, was testing it out with Ikkaku. But it took too long to send and receive the texts, and, being impatient, he decided to snap shut his phone after waiting over ten minutes for a reply. He figured that Ikkaku might've destroyed whatever he was using on his end. Not even five minutes later, a knock sounded on the door and Yumichika went to answer it. Ravyn had come just in time to prevent him from one of the ugliest things: being bored.

"So, are you going to explain everything to me?" Ravyn asked as she walked in, and followed him to his room.

"I said I would, didn't I?" he said, and she nodded. In a manner most like Ruri, she climbed on his bed, lying on her stomach, and grabbed his pillow to put under her arms. Yumichika sat down on the sofa and Ravyn looked at him expectantly.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" he asked, and she nodded. _Good, it'll be less harder to explain now. _He told her about the Soul Society, and what Shinigami were and what they did. Explaining about the hollow was easy enough, since Ravyn already figured that souls wouldn't always be peaceful. After he was done telling her about the Gotei 13, he asked if she had any questions so far.

"So... You're dead, right?" Ravyn asked, and Yumichika nodded. "But if you live in that Seireitei place, why're you here? And how can you be seen by everyone, since not all people can see spirits and stuff?"

"I'm in a gigai- an artificial body. It allows everyone to see me," he said. "If I left the gigai and was in my soul form, only people with higher reiatsu, or spirit energy, can see me."

"So that's why you don't have your sword?"

"Exactly. Also, they're more than just swords. We call them zanpakuto," Yumichika replied, launching into another explanation about the weapons. When he finished, Ravyn looked impressed.

"So, let me get this straight: You're dead, a Shinigami who goes off killing hollow, and you have a... zanpakuto that changes it's appearance if you say a few words. That's pretty epic," she commented, looking at him in awe. Yumichika tried to ignore the look, one that he became accustomed to receiving in Rukongai whenever he fought anyone with Ruri around, and instead focused on what Ravyn was saying. "So, Ichigo's a Shinigami, too, then, since he had that huge butcher knife zanpakuto... Oh, you never said, why're you here?"

"Yes, Ichigo's a Shinigami. As for why I'm here..." he trailed off, thinking. He knew that there would probably be no getting around the question, but he didn't know how the girl would react to finding out there was a Shinigami's soul in her. But on the other hand, she had to know, otherwise he'd get nowhere in his mission to save Ruri. "You know when someone passes on to the Soul Society, they live in a place called Rukongai? It has 80 districts in both the north and south; the larger the number, the worst the district is. Life in Rukongai definitely isn't a pretty one, especially if you're in the worst districts like I was. I have a friend, Ikkaku Madarame, who I met in Rukongai decades ago-"

"Wait, decades?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"Time goes much slower in Soul Society, so we don't age as quickly. It's a good thing, too, otherwise I'd be absolutely ugly, and with wrinkles," he said, shuddering delicately at the thought before continuing on. "Now, as I was saying, Ikkaku was my friend in Rukongai, and we spent years going into different districts, with him picking fights along the way. See, he's this battle-loving idiot, who constantly fights people if they look tough enough for him. After a time, he became well-known for his fighting skills, not just for his bald head and tattooed eyes. So, one day we were traveling along the outside of some town, and we heard a fight going on somewhere in the forest right by the town. We went to where the fight was, mainly because Ikkaku wanted to challenge whoever won. But it turned out to be two weaponless kids, a girl and a boy, fighting three guys with katanas."

"Did you stop them?"

Yumichika nodded. "Of course we did, though we only had to kill the two attacking the boy, since the girl had knocked out her opponent. Later, after they had left, Ikkaku and I had devised a plan to make sure they were both okay, since the boy had hurt his shoulder in his fight. Ikkaku followed the boy as he went into town to the medic, and the girl headed back to where she had been fighting."

"Why?" Ravyn asked.

"To thank us for killing them," he replied. "I'm not sure why she went back there, but I didn't know she was there until she screamed. The guy who she knocked out was still alive, and had pinned her down with his sword. So, I obviously killed the guy, but I couldn't leave the girl, since her ankle was sprained and she could barely walk. I let her come with me and Ikkaku to the place we were staying at, and after a while, the three of us had became close friends. Her name was Ruri Aruteru."

"Ruri," she repeated thoughtfully. "That name..." She trailed off, and after a few seconds looked back up at him. "So then what happened? Did you guys become Shinigami?"

"Yes, years later. We didn't originally plan to become Shinigami, but one day Ikkaku was fighting this guy who would later become the taichou, or captain, of the 11th Squad. When we heard he had became a taichou, the three of us became Shinigami, and eventually got put in Squad 11. It's also known as the bloodthirsty squad, since it's full of fighting-crazed psychos... Ruri and me, along with the fukutaichou, or vice captain, being the exceptions, of course," Yumichika added. "The 12th Squad is also part of the Department of Research and Development, both of which is run by Kurotsuchi-taichou. Kurotsuchi is like a stereotypical mad scientist."

"So he goes around with poison and stuff, testing it out on innocent bystanders?" Ravyn asked, smirking.

"Funnily enough, yes," he agreed with a small grin. "Remember those hollow? Well, Kurotsuchi had been experimenting on quite a few of them, and two years ago, they escaped. Ikkaku, Ruri, and I were sent to find the hollow, stun them, and then tell Kurotsuchi where they were. So, we went, and knocked out most of them. We could tell that they were enhanced as far as being stronger goes, but that's all we thought there was to it. So, when a hollow slashed Ruri when she was off-guard, Ikkaku and I were shocked to see her actually fall to the ground, and wasn't able to get back up. Usually she's back on her feet in seconds…. We were even more surprised when her reiatsu, or spirit energy, started dropping. To make a long story short, we ended up bringing her to Squad 4, which is basically consisted of Shinigami healers, and we found out later why nothing they did was helping her. That's where you come in, Ravyn."

"Me?"

"Yes. Two years ago, you were in a hospital, in critical condition?" She nodded, and he continued. "Well, according to Kurotsuchi, the only way for Ruri's reiatsu to stop dropping and grow stronger was for her to go into a humans body for a while. Normally, she would've had to go into a gigai, an artificial body, but considering she was barely conscious at the time... Anyway, the human apparently had to be unconscious and severely injured, and preferably in a hospital room that was completely closed off. Unohana-taichou, of the 4th Squad, figured that while being in Karakura Town could help improve Ruri's health, she didn't want any hollow affecting her healing. That lead to some country farther away, which lead to the States, and someone in Squad 12 found out about you. Unohana-"

"Who?"

"She's the taichou of Squad 4," he said, before continuing where he left off. "Her, Kurotsuchi, myself, and a few others went to the hospital you were at with Ruri... I'm not quite sure what, exactly, they did, though, so don't ask."

"So they somehow made me Ruri?" Ravyn asked after a few seconds, and he nodded. "But wait, before you say anything else, I have a question. Is that, the whole Ruri thing I mean, why I can see you and Ichigo when you were Shinigami, even though I don't see spirits and stuff?"

Yumichika nodded again. "I wouldn't be surprised. This has never happened before, as you can guess, so no one's quite sure what's going to happen."

"Oh."

"Don't worry about it. Everything's going to end up fine," he said. Somehow by reassuring her, he managed to reassure himself. Now, if only he was right….


End file.
